Ideation by committee
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." -- George Orwell, "Animal Farm"
A truer statement could not have been written when it comes to innovation as a result of "ideation by committee." During the last two decades of political correctness, we have reduced corporate culture to one in which everyone has a voice in the decision-making process.
Unfortunately, some people are smarter, some are stronger, and some are infinitely more creative and innovative than others. However, companies across the country pile people into rooms and say, "We're going to come up with a great idea." Seldom have these sessions done anything more than create a feeling of inclusion -- a sense that everyone's voice is being heard.
Some people have the natural ability -- or have been taught -- to think differently. Unfortunately, we are suffering the effects of two decades of M.B.A. programs that didn't teach people how to think. But luckily, that trend is shifting. According to a great article in The New York Times, we're seeing a move toward multicultural critical theory.
The current system of communal happiness works against innovation. Change is a violent and disturbing act, and you need people who think that way. What we have now is the system that, through focus groups, ended up with the Ford Edsel. The client, the vendor, and everyone else, down to the receptionist, gets involved in coming up with the next innovative idea. But you see, when everyone's voice is heard -- even the banal ones who don't understand the nuances of need-states of consumers, media distribution and formats, and word-of-mouth transference -- you end up with mediocrity.
The solution
If you want to innovate in advertising, take the smartest people you know (yes, even the ones that piss you off) and send them off in pairs, much like Noah's ark. Create a competition for the best idea, campaign, or product. And then designate a "change agent" -- a person who has the ability to pick ideas that really work. That's the person who selects the best idea to present to the client.
Oh no, wait -- that's how traditional advertising worked for years. And it did work. But somewhere in the new age of the internet, that culture was lost -- and internet advertising has suffered as a result. Not everything in traditional advertising can be applied to digital, but this system did work and still does.
